Noah Felentzer glanced at the Southmoreland bench and tapped his chest. The Scotties senior guard regretted taking an errant 3-point shot.

It was perhaps his only lowlight on a night when he scored 31 points to power Southmoreland to a 60-47 victory over visiting Ligonier Valley in a Section 4-3A boys basketball game Tuesday night.

“I made a shot the possession before,” he said. “I saw (the defender’s) hands down and thought maybe we could jump on them a little bit and get a quick 3, get this place going crazy.”

For an instant, it made Scotties coach Frank Muccino batty.

“I was thinking, ‘Move in a step or two,’ ” Muccino said, smiling.

Southmoreland (4-4, 2-0), on Ty Whoric’s 3-point shot just before the halftime buzzer, carried a 31-27 lead into intermission, then shook free from Ligonier Valley in the second half and was never threatened.

“They hit that 3 to end the first half, and we kind of let that put a dent in our morale,” Ligonier Valley coach Dante Porter said. “We kind of got out of sight, and we tried catching up one possession at a time. You can’t do that when you’re down multiple scores.”

Following a tightly played first half in which neither team led by more than four points, Southmoreland took a 43-34 lead on a 3-pointer by Felentzer, part of a 12-5 run to open the third quarter.

Ligonier Valley pulled back within 43-38, but that five-point deficit was as close as the Rams got the rest of the way.

Southmoreland made seven 3-pointers, two each by Felentzer, Brady Sherbondy and Brock Pritts, along with Whoric’s first-half dagger.

“They have extreme confidence to shoot it,” Muccino said. “But, sometimes, they get a little bit too aggressive. We just tried to dial them back into the regular zip code. I told them they were out in California somewhere shooting the ball. But I liked the fact that they were aggressive. They weren’t hesitating. They were looking to score, they were looking to shoot and that’s when they play their best.”

Michael Vargulish-Graver scored 16 points, and Simeon Pope added 11 to lead Ligonier Valley (4-4, 1-1).

“It’s a learning lesson. It’s a grind,” Porter said. “We’ve got to learn from this and be better. There’s a lot of teams in the section that are really good, and we’re going to see Southmoreland again next month (Jan. 27 at Ligonier Valley). They’re going to be ready for us, and we’re hoping to be much more prepared for them.”

Felentzer scored from a number of angles in the paint, repeatedly getting past Ligonier Valley players and to the rim.

One of the WPIAL’s leading scorers least season (22 ppg), Felentzer said that long shot from near the halfcourt circle was a bit out of character for him.

“Every game, I try to play the same,” he said.

And it was no secret to Ligonier Valley.

“We know what he’s capable of. He’s tough to guard. He’s tough to stop,” Porter said. “You can have all the ideas in the world in your head and written down, but a player of that caliber who can get a shot and get to all three levels, will kill you. I thought we guarded him hard, and he made tough shots all night.”